Janice's Sunday mailbag!

Your White Sox questions answered, live from Guaranteed Rate Field

Because I like you, I'll attempt to answer your burning White Sox questions in the stead of mailbag founder Sam Sherman. You can ask me about the crazy journey that is life, or who I think Lucas Giolito's go-to Smash Bros. character is. 

It's in your hands!

The first question comes from Brian, also known as @LandmarkMKE:

If Luis Robert loses his glove over the wall, but runs behind the wall and catches the ball before it falls to the ground is it still a home run?

— Landmark (@LandmarkMKE) August 16, 2020

Brian is referring to what might be a strong metaphor for 2020. In a game on July 22 vs. the Milwaukee Brewers, what would have been a slick robbery of a Ben Gamel home run actually resulted in Luis Robert losing his glove, in tandem with perhaps his mind: 

Caught the ball! 😁
Lost his glove over the wall. 😑

(🎥 @nbcswhitesox) pic.twitter.com/X9qCrPwhNV

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) July 23, 2020

“I can’t believe someone would put pants over all four of a dog’s paws!”

Brian’s question postulates: If Robert would have lost his glove over the wall and somehow ran behind the wall to catch it (with what, his bare hands? His cap?) would it have counted as an out?

Digging into the Ulysses-like reference guide known as the MLB rulebook, I'd like to answer this question in a two-fold process. According to rule 505(a), part 9: 

"...if [a fair fly ball] is deflected [by a fielder] into the stands or over the fence in fair territory, the batter shall be entitled to a home run."

Deflected into a glove or not, the Gamel call was the right one to make. But going back to whether Robert would have been allowed to venture into fair territory, if he could somehow vault himself over that State Farm ad into the left field bleachers:

"Rule 5.09(a)(1) Comment: A fielder may reach into, but not step into, a dugout to make a catch, and if he holds the ball, the catch shall be allowed. A fielder, in order to make a catch on a foul ball nearing a dugout or other out-of-play area (such as the stands), must have one or both feet on or over the playing surface (including the lip of the dugout) and neither foot on the ground inside the dugout or in any other out-of-play area. Ball is in play, unless the fielder, after making a legal catch, steps or falls into a dugout or other out-of-play area, in which case the ball is dead."

There you have it; outfielders may reach into the stands, but their feet must come down on the field of play. The stands are not considered the field of play, so unless Luis Robert discovers some flexibility by joining Dylan Cease's yoga classes, he’s going to have to hang onto his glove next time around.

Our next question comes from Soul Food Sunday, or @CeeDeeFive:

If you could fire any right fielder into the sun, who would it be, and why did you choose Mazara...?

— Soul Food Sunday (@CeeDeeFive) August 16, 2020

As of right now, NASA has no plans to fire right fielders into the sun, let alone anything. (Source: Google Search: “Does NASA have plans to fire stuff into the sun”)

There’s a sound reason why: Namely, it’s potentially dangerous and not very cost-effective.

Going back to the question, Nomar Mazara has been rather underwhelming so far in his short tenure with the White Sox, raising frustrations with the right fielder all over White Sox Twitter. After missing a few games at the beginning of the season due to strep throat, in 10 games and 32 plate appearances, Mazara’s batting average is a chilly .160.

Even more unsettling is in his situational hitting: With runners in scoring position, he’s batting .250 with one hit — a double, his lone RBI for the season.

A redeeming quality Mazara has is a high walk rate of 15.6%, contributing to a respectable on-base percentage of .344. However, in order for Mazara to go from underwhelming to just “whelming,” we will need to see more production at the plate. He was marketed to us as a left-handed bat that would potentially hit dingers and drive in runs, as we all know, and are constantly reminded that he once hit a 505-foot home run.

Our last question comes from Mailbag regular Alexis, @atwater_a22.

What a fun question! I'll answer the bubble tea part first, since, well, I'm kind of hungry.

My favorite bubble tea in the city is probably the strawberry rose oolong tea from Joy Yee's. If you're wondering what rose tea tastes like, your best guess is probably right. And if you're also wondering why someone would want to drink rose-flavored anything, mind your own.

As for White Sox players out of position, I actually think about this all the time, especially when I use Edwin Encarnación in pinch hitting situations in MLB The Show and forget to replace him on the mound. (No, I do not want to see Edwin pitch.)

I've thought a lot about what position players would be good pitchers, however; with Leury García out for the year, we need a new player to step up to become the second coming of Matt Davidson. 

Infielders seem to find themselves on the mound in blowouts. Let me emphasize that I don't hope to see either of them do this ever, but I think Tim Anderson or maybe Danny Mendick would at least be entertaining pitchers. Imagine the bat flips and strikeout fist-pumps!

That's all for this week; Sam Sherman takes back the mailbag reins next Sunday.